Experience conducting research is an important criterion for admission to graduate school, medical school, and industry jobs, yet finding and obtaining a research position can be challenging for many undergraduates. Without background or experience it can be intimidating to reach out; however, by following some simple steps and tips outlined below, students can set themselves up to find and become involved in a fulfilling and meaningful research endeavor.
Read MoreTags: graduate school, MD
I tell this story because it seems to be the most encouraging thing I tell aspiring or freshly minted graduate students.
The summer before my senior year of undergrad, I was accepted to the MIT Summer Research Program. I had an amazing experience, met incredible people, and gained a lot of confidence in my abilities. But in the midst of the program, I had a crisis akin to what many grad students will experience in their careers.
Tags: graduate school
Dear Reader,
I'm Lucas, a graduate student in the Math Department at MIT and a tutor with Cambridge Coaching. Like most graduate students, I have intently followed the discussions about the new tax bill, thinking how it would affect my finances. As of this writing, only the House of Representatives’ version eliminates a provision that would directly affect graduate students, Section 117(d)(5) of the current code. Currently, Section 117(d)(5) says that “gross income shall not include any qualified tuition reduction;” with the repeal, that means that tuition reductions would count as gross income.
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Taking an online course can be a graduation-saver. Having an illness, a family crisis, an unexpected failure in a course or a mistake made counting credits with one or two courses to go can create a situation where being able to take those last few credits without having to be on campus or pay for a full semester makes completing a degree possible. Taking an online course in the summer session can be a way to get a bit ahead on your coursework in order to graduate early. Some students use summer session as a way to raise their GPAs: take a course online and do very well at it and then also take one less course in the following semester which allows you to do better in all your courses. Because online courses are usually asynchronous, you can take one while you are working.
Read MoreTags: college, graduate school
If you think that electrical engineers just work with complicated machinery with wires, look again. A major in electrical engineering is a gateway to jobs spanning the medical profession, the financial industry, the computer and smartphone industry, security industry, and telecommunications industry, to name a few. Let’s find out how this seemingly narrow field opens the doors to a wide world of career opportunities. It all starts with the problem solving abilities you develop in math and physics and how you apply those abilities to real-world problems. If you are not enjoying math and science classes now, the amazing array of career opportunities at the end might give you the motivational boost to pick and stick with the field.
Tags: career advice, college, graduate school
I graduated from college in 2009, and immediately set about the business of becoming a writer. I wrote a novel. I rewrote it. I landed an agent. I rewrote the novel two more times. I found consistent work, first as a bartender (every writer needs a trade), then as a college admissions coach and writing tutor in New York and Boston, and lately I’ve moved into editing economic reports and proposals for the World Bank in DC, where I live now. I started reviewing books, at first for the free books, then, thanks to a charitably-minded editor at the TLS, for actual money (not a lot of it, but still money). I became, bit by bit, a working author. I started to feel less obligated to put the word “writer” in air quotes every time someone asked me what I did. And through it all, one question came up over and over. “What about an MFA?” And every time the answer was the same: “Forget it!” I even blogged stridently about it on this site a year and a half ago.
Read MoreTags: creative writing, graduate school
Tags: graduate school
